The rise and fall of Matt Gaetz in eight wild days | Global News Avenue

Eight days after US President-elect Donald Trump selected Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, the firebrand congressman has withdrawn from consideration for the position.

The nomination shocked Washington and sent shivers down the halls of the Justice Department.

Trump reportedly selected Gates, 42, during a two-hour flight from Washington to Florida last week.

Still basking in the excitement of his election victory, the president-elect flew back to West Palm Beach last Wednesday afternoon after a cordial meeting with President Joe Biden.

That morning, Gates wasn’t even on the short list for the job as the nation’s top judicial official, but Trump was overwhelmed by his other options, Politico reported.

According to the New York Times, the so-called “Trump Force One” that day included Gates himself, Elon Musk, Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff Suzy Wells and his top Legal Counsel Boris Epshtein.

Epshtein reportedly began persuading Trump to let Gates lead the Justice Department, which opened a sex-trafficking investigation into the congressman before dropping the matter.

Gates, a lawyer, has been one of Trump’s staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill.

He helped prepare Republican candidates for a televised debate with Biden that effectively excluded the Democrat from the race for the White House.

One Trump adviser explained why the president-elect — who himself is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and has accused prosecutors of a witch hunt — prefers Gates to other contenders.

“Everyone else is looking at the AG (attorney general) as if they were applying for a judicial appointment,” the aide told the Barrier newspaper on condition of anonymity.

“Gates is the only one who says ‘Yeah, I’m going to go out there and start chopping off’ (expletive) heads.'”

While Republicans on Capitol Hill reacted tepidly to the nomination, career lawyers at the Justice Department told US media they were shocked and angry.

Speaking at a conservative conference last year, Gates suggested that the Justice Department and its regulatory agencies, including the FBI, should be abolished because he believed they were being used against conservatives. Current Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied the claims.

Critics say Trump, who also appointed three lawyers who defended him in criminal cases to senior Justice Department posts, is more interested in hiring loyalists than appointing people who uphold the rule of law.

Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton dismissed Gates as “the worst Cabinet-level appointment in history.”

But Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, said the outrage among the Washington establishment showed that his father’s unconventional Cabinet picks were the changemakers that American voters elected him to lead.

After being nominated as attorney general last week, Gaetz resigned as representative of Florida’s 1st Congressional District, a seat he had held since 2017.

His resignation comes as the House Ethics Committee decides whether to release an investigative report into misconduct involving drugs, bribery and prostitution, including with underage girls.

Gates dismissed the claims as defamatory. But his resignation triggered a series of leaks in the days that followed as the ethics committee debated what to do with the report.

Meanwhile, few Republicans appear willing to circle around one of the House’s most unpopular members.

The combative Gaetz came under attack from his own camp last year when he played a major role in ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican.

Former House member and now Sen. Markwayne Mullin told CNN at the time that there was a reason none of Gates’ colleagues would defend him against sexual misconduct accusations .

“Because we all saw the video of him on the House floor,” The Oklahoman accused Gates of bragging about his sexual behavior last October.

Gates said Mullin was lying.

As backlash against his attorney general nomination began to intensify this week, Trump called senators in an effort to drum up support.

Trump appeared firm on Gates when he attended a SpaceX rocket launch in Boca Chica, Texas, with Musk on Tuesday.

Asked if he would reconsider, the president-elect said: “No.”

In more encouraging news for Gates on Wednesday, Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted not to release their investigation.

The incident comes as Vice President-elect J.D. Vance launches a charm offensive in the Senate to bring the attorney general nominee to the Senate floor.

Gates said it was a “great day.” But there are signs of unrest ahead.

Asked how chaotic the confirmation process could become, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said there would likely be “a lot of excitement” surrounding the hearings.

Trump was still calling Republican senators Thursday morning to assess Gaetz’s chances.

But by lunchtime, the nominee had concluded he didn’t have the votes and shocked Washington again by announcing he was withdrawing.

“While momentum is strong, it is clear that my confirmation unfairly distracts from the critical work of the Trump/Vance transition,” he posted on X.

Trump’s post on Truth Social confirmed the about-face – his first political setback since his election 16 days ago – but was unusually quiet for the president-elect.

“I deeply appreciate Matt Gaetz’s recent efforts to seek approval to serve as attorney general,” he wrote, adding that the nominee did not want to be a “distraction.”

Hours later, Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to the position.

While Trump predicts a “great future” for Gates, there’s still a question mark over what he will do next.

He was easily re-elected this month, but a special election is already planned to fill his vacated seat.

Randy Ross, a Trump fundraiser in Florida, told the BBC that the United States has not heard the last of Matt Gaetz.

“I believe there is still a place for this patriot in the future leadership of the Trump administration, Florida or our country. We all look forward to his next steps,” Mr. Ross said.

Meanwhile, Ginger Gaetz, who married the congressman in 2021, posted an old photo on X of himself on the steps of Capitol Hill after exiting the congressman.

“The end of an era,” she commented.